This invention generally relates to cable assemblies, and more specifically, to cable assemblies of the type used to anchor seat belts to vehicles.
Seat belts are widely used to secure personnel in seats such as airplane and automobile seats. One type of seat belt, for example, comprises two straps, a buckle, and a tongue. The buckle is secured to a first end of one strap, and the tongue is secured to the first end of the other strap. Second ends of both straps are anchored to a vehicle structure adjacent to a seat thereof. A person secures himself or herself within the seat by extending at least one of the straps in front of himself or herself and inserting the tongue of the seatbelt into the buckle thereof. Means are provided to disconnect the tongue from the buckle, and to adjust the length or tension of the belt. Various means, such as a twisted wire cable assembly, may be used to anchor the seatbelt to the vehicle structure. One twisted wire cable assembly, which is well suited for this purpose, and methods of making such a cable assembly, are described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,222,858.
When these seatbelts are not in use, the tongue and buckle are not held in any particular position, and normally the buckle and tongue just lie loosely on or adjacent to the vehicle seat. To use such a seat belt, an individual must first locate and grab both the buckle and the tongue and then connect the two together.
With other types of seatbelts, the buckle is connected to the vehicle structure by means of an arm assembly which keeps the buckle at, or within a relatively narrow range of, one, fixed location in which the buckle is comparatively easy to find and use. This, obviously, makes it easier for the wearer to use the seatbelt, and encourages people to do so. Prior art seat belts, though, have not been generally designed to hold the buckle selectively in any one of a variety or range of positions, and thus cannot be individually adjusted for each person who uses a seatbelt to maximize the ease and convenience with which that person can insert the tongue into the buckle.